Editorial views from across the state

Legal procedures more than just technicalities

Law students have enough to learn without mastering clairvoyance.

But maybe they should, if the criminal-justice system is going to deal not only with wrongs committed but also those merely contemplated.

Today's sex offenders can serve their sentences and still be placed under indefinite restrictions, even be sent back to prison for life, if experts foresee more offenses.Drug paraphernalia laws, such as the one Spokane enacted earlier this year, outlaw otherwise legal products on the presumption they will be used illicitly.

Cold medicines? They're not just for the sniffles any more.

Which brings up last week's Washington state Supreme Court ruling that sent a drug conviction back to Spokane County for a new trial. The fatal flaw? A series of procedural errors.

The defendant who benefited from the decision,63-year-old Virgil R. Montgomery, of Newport, was convicted three years ago of possessing significant quantities of ingredients for making methamphetamine.

Even Justice Tom Chambers, who wrote the majority opinion, conceded there was "substantial evidence" to back up the jury verdict. Montgomery and a companion who's now in prison drove to Spokane on June 23, 2004, and stopped at seven stores, buying a variety of items — often splitting up and making separate purchases — which included mostly cold medicines and other ingredients used in meth making.

Where the lawyers and trial court Judge Michael Price went wrong was in allowing arguments and instructions that violated Montgomery's right to a fair trial. Witnesses who had testified about facts also were allowed to speculate about Montgomery's guilt. The prosecution was allowed to suggest that the absence of a potential defense witness was evidence that his testimony would have been unfavorable. The judge said as much in his instructions to the jurors.

Now the case is to be tried again — at substantial cost to the public.

That's the same public that has declared, through its elected legislators, that certain patterns of conduct should be punished because of where they might lead. The public is fed up with drug and sex offenses, but if that is to be our standard it is more important than ever that court procedures diligently protect every citizen's right to a fair trial.

A cynic will call procedural errors technicalities. A civil libertarian will exalt them as bedrock constitutional protections.

They're both right.

— The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, May 20

Immigration reform can't be forgotten

With meaningful immigration reform at least temporarily out of the spotlight as the nation awaits the election of a new president and Congress in November, some might think current immigration laws are not being enforced.

Such is not the case, particularly when it comes to those in the country illegally and who commit crimes while they are here. They have become the focus of a crackdown by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As they should be. The Seattle Times recently reported that since the push began last June, immigration officials have placed 4,453 legal and illegal immigrants from throughout the state into removal proceedings. Last year, criminals represented about one-third of all immigrants who were expelled from the U.S.

Closer to home, ICE officials reported that of the 4,453 targeted for removal, 1,468 were jailed in Eastern Washington and four jails in north Idaho and one in northeastern Oregon.

Though the agency would not offer a county-by-county breakdown, as of Monday, the Yakima County Department of Corrections reported that 48 inmates were being held for ICE for various reasons.

It's a demonstrable fact that the vast majority of those entering this country illegally are coming here to seek a better life for them and their families. While that in itself does not justify illegal entry, the flood of illegal immigrants is also bringing with it a criminal element and that is the group being targeted.

Under the Criminal Alien Program, ICE officers identify and then request that jailers place holds on deportable immigrants before they are released from custody.

If that doesn't work, then "we are not limited in how we locate these criminals we're going after," Neil Clark, field director for ICE, told The Times. "Our primary focus is providing safety and security for law-abiding citizens and legal residents of this country. We want these people off the streets."

The crackdown, however, does not lessen the need for reforms that also clean up the mess in which our immigration policies now find themselves. Secure borders, workable guest-worker programs and sensible paths to legal residency and citizenship should be central to such changes.

By all means, get the bad apples out of the country. We may be a nation of immigrants, but we also are a nation of laws.

But as it happens, Congress and the new administration cannot lose sight of the bigger picture and pressing need — and responsibility — for long-overdue immigration reforms.

— The Yakima Herald-Republic, May 22